The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-09-16
"A NATION or TEA DRINKERS.


. Food anu DRINK oil. tho NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
Vegetables, Ryo Bread ana Tea
The Russians are nation of tea
drinkers; Collects rare; tea is universal,
and universally good. The best tea |
ever drank was in Russia; they drink 1t
at all hours, and without regard to guam
tity-sometimes ten cups at sitting, and
yet, apparently, with IMMUNITY. Brass
urns, in which tea water is boiled by
means of charcoal fire, are found over
all the empire; they are called samovars,
and found ii important to include in my
Russian vocabulary the word ''samovar. "
Their method of making and drinking tea
has been noticed by all travellers in their
country
They claim that water at the boiling
point is destructive to the good qualities
of tea, so they draw their tea with water
just below that point. They use thin
glass tumblers, with ordinary saucers;
sometimes the women use cups, but the
men never; the tea is poured into saul
GERS. which are held on the upturned
ends of the thumb and fingers of the
right hand; milk and cream are rarely
used; block of cut sugar is held in the
left hand, from which they nibble pieces,
az they slowly sip their delicious, wine
cololed tea.
These people arc called by the Germans
the "Onion Russians" because of the
quantity of onions they eat; they might,
with more propriety, be called nation
of cucumber eaters. Cucumbers are
raised in great quantities. of excellent
quality, and may be found, picked, any
where between Behrmg Strait and the
Baltic. Cucumber water is favorite
hot weather beverage, or, if you will
permit Celticism they make their
lemonade from cucumbers. This light
beverage however, is not sufficient to
allay the thirst of the mujik; from his
abundant rye he makes powerful
brandy, called vodka; that it is high
proof ig well attested by the numerous
drunken men over which one must tread
in the streets.
Though saw in many gardens good
potatoes, cabbages, radishes and turnips,
the much maligned sunhower was the
only apology saw for Horticulture, Its
seeds arc esteemed n great delicacy by
the young people, and are found for sale
in every shop. We may regard the sum
flower seeds as the peanuts OF the kus-
sian peasantry. .
Their agricultural implements are of
the rudest character. Grass is cut with
straight, shapeless blades, made at the
country blacksmith's shop, and attached
to the end of straight stick. The
women do the harvesting; the grain Is
cut with sickles, as it was cut 5000 years
ago; the ground is plowed with roots,
and narrowed with the limbs OF trees;
the grain is threshed with fail.
Black rye bread is the staple article Of
food throughout the empire The peas
ants live largely on vegetable diet, meat
being reserved for the holidays; they sell
dom use knife and fork, but wooden
spoon for liquid food, and the fingers for
anything else.
On one occasion something was
placed before me as sat at the samovar
making my tea; l glanced furtively and
hesitatingly Mt it, whereupon the woman
of the house threw back an upper crust
with her fingers, and revealed steaming
conglomeration of little fishes, and en-
couraged mo with reassuring "Horosho;
horosho;" good; good). The fishes were
uneviscerated, unbeheaded-in short, I'M
dressed; but on discovering among them
the familiar countenance of little pick
erel, and determined not to offend the
hospitality of my hostess, after the fashion
of little Jack Horner, / extracted the
pickerel, ate him up, and true to the
hypocritical etiquette of my country, |,
too, said: "Horosho; horosho;" when
the thing was positively abominable.-
James Picalton in Outing.